Joint declaration against mass surveillance and mass data storage

Anywhere in the world mass surveillance and centralized mass data storage will be expanded and strengthened by the state for years. The control measures include the preventive and occasional loose retention of communications, motion profiles, tax and financial transactions, personal relationships and individual behavior, disease information, and more.

These measures are usually justified with the "war on terrorism" and the "fight crime". Data are not collected specifically not on suspects , but a flat rate by each person - without any reasonable suspicion.Occasioned by the non-retention of data from all walks of life all people are put under general suspicion. The expansion of the security architecture by means of mass surveillance therefore means a de facto abolition of the innocence principle, which is a basic pillar of a democratic legal system.

Even there is no safety benefit by mass surveillance that would justify the huge expense and the erosion of important democratic norms and values in any way.

By the hacking of privacy by the state is the norm , the guarantee of human dignity is not only in danger, but actually is overridden : man is a pure object of the suspicious state. He is stripped of his dignity by being generally considered as a potential criminal or enemy.

Besides operational upgrade through the use of mass surveillance and the increasingly progressive centralization of powers and the tendency to weaken the seperation of intelligence agencies, police and military is worrying.

In a democratic basic order of a constitutional state these institutions must operate independently. History teaches us through many examples which force a state can develop if this seperation is not maintained.

The state is only a democratic and free state , if he adheres to the self-imposed boundaries of the modern understanding of law when he restricted himself and sets the highest standards for their actions.

To the right understanding of the state the prohibition of a flat mass surveillance is included , ie the mass invasion of privacy and the security of the principle that violations of basic rights may only be a last resort .

In a free and just society the supreme maxime of the state must be confidence in the citizens and not mistrust. Conversely the people must always be able to trust that the state does without intervention and they are permitted only in well justified cases and judicial review. In a democratic state guaranteeing human dignity and fundamental rights must be absolute.

As engaged citizens and representatives of civil society, we call upon our politicians to check all encroachments upon security and surveillance towards its conformity in compliance with constitutional law. So long as this doesn’t happen we demand the immediate cessation of these practices.

We don’t want a society based on fear or mistrust. We want a peaceful and free society that affords all citizens equal opportunities in which no one is excluded, where no one needs to fear the surveillance state. And in which citizens retain the ability to act responsibly.

We are convinced that the best measures to combat criminality is education, to fight poverty, integration and social responsibility and political participation. Politicians and civil society are equally challenged to develop alternative ways for tackling these issues.